Kumir, Chapter 8: Office Perks

This episode is dedicated to a particular student struggling through finals, with the hope it is a bit more entertaining than 20th Century philosophy.

“She’s what?” Michael Doukas’ gravelly voice boomed through the door, and Jane suppressed a grin. She was leaning agains the wall next to the entrance, looking blandly at the young Incubiker doing his best to look like a guard while obviously scared out of his mind. The tough’s hands kept fidgeting towards the buck knife at his belt, then at the buttons on his leather vest, loosely cut to make room for a shoulder holster. Feeling mischievous, Jane raised a hand suddenly just to watch him jump. She grinned at him as she ran the hand through her tousled blonde hair. He reddened, but didn’t say anything.

The voices inside the office murmured for a bit, then suddenly raised in volume again as some other disagreement came up. “I don’t give a fuck what you think. I’m not having a goddamn’ bodyguard detail against one skank with a singletail! Send her the fuck in!” Jane pushed away from the wall, tipping a finger at the guard in salute and sauntering into Michael Doukas’ office. It was furnished in dark wood and leather, the office of a man trying to purchase sophistication, having come to wealth late in life.

Michael sat behind the large cherrywood desk, a designer leather chair framing his brushed-back gray hair. His suit was tailored to flatter his broad shoulders, and a silk tie was pinned with a large diamond under a perfect Windsor knot. The whole tableau clashed with the guard standing behind him in denim and leather, gloved hands holding a 12-gauge with ready menace. Doukas ignored him, scowling at Jane through templed fingers. She carefully kept her hands in view, away from her pockets and rucksack, but the guard fingered his shotgun nervously just the same.

“So.” Michael’s voice was low and matter-of-fact. “You look like a bitch, but you must be hiding balls the size of watermelons to show up here after you put four of my guys in the clinic.”

Michael still scowled, but grunted in agreement. “Good point. Both of them, actually. Which is why I’m not having my boys dip you in crank case oil and gang rape your ass.” He paused, as if waiting for a reaction from her, but Jane’s expression didn’t change. “Yet. But what the fuck makes you think my benevolent mood will last long enough for you to walk out that door?”

Jane smiled. “You sure know how to charm a girl, Mr. Doukas.” She walked towards the desk, ignoring the guard’s shifting finger on the trigger, and sat jauntily on the corner. She picked up an expensive-looking pen and considered it thoughtfully. “Thing is, I felt kinda bad about what happened, and so I came over to see if I could make nice with you boys. I heard you might be able to use someone with my – ” she looked up suddenly at Michael with lowered lashes “-sklls.” She held his gaze as she thoughtfully and slowly ran the pen cap across her lips. The implication was unmistakable, and Michael’s expression shifted ever so slightly from anger towards amusement. Abruptly she dropped the pen and walked away from the desk. “My skills as a Russian translator, that is. Would you like my rates? We should be sure you can afford them.”

“Rates? What the fuck? Who told you about the Russians, bitch?” Michael’s tone was angry again, and she turned suddenly, halfway to the door.

“Mr. Doukas.” Her voice was strong and cut through his tirade like a stroke of lightning. “I walked into this beautiful office expecting to do business with a gentleman. Or at least a semi-literate businessman. I fucked up your boys because they were assholes. I didn’t think you’d be that stupid.” She matched his glare, and there was a tension filling the office that seemed to hum. The guard shifted restlessly, and the creak of his leathers sounded like a gunshot in the wired silence. He looked embarrassed, then angrily at her.

After a long, measured stare, Michael cleared his throat. “I apologize, Ms. Jane, for my temper. It gets the better of me sometimes.” His tone held no contrition, belying the words. “May I offer you some refreshment?”

“Whiskey. Neat,” she said immediately, and walked back to the desk. Michael motioned to the guard, and growled a little, low in his throat, when the man hesitated a moment. As the door closed behind the bodyguard-cum-errandboy, Michael gestured to a chair. Jane perched on the desk instead, the curve of her brown leather pants complementing the dark cherry wood.

Jane smiled. “Former marine,” she corrected, and added “I also work pro on occasion. Whatever puts gas in my tank.” She gave him a come-hither look, voice dropping into a Mae West impersonation. “Why do you ask, big boy, your regular girl just not doin’ it for ya?”

Suddenly Michael’s scowl broke and he guffawed. The laugh sounded harsh, but a wide smile covered his weatherbeaten face. “Now that’s a good one. You’re quite amusing, lady.” His grin became more feral. “My girl’s doin’ me just fine.” He looked down and pushed his chair back from the desk slightly. “Aren’t you, girl?”

From under the desk came a soft voice. “I hope so, Sir.” Jane caught a glimpse of tired brown eyes and a bare shoulder before Michael scooted his chair back. He looked smugly up at Jane. “So. While she’s sucking my cock, you get to tell me what it is you think you can do for me. If you convince me before I come, I might not take the clinic bill for my boys out of your fee. But I warn you,” he raised a finger admonishingly as a slurping sound grew louder from under the desk. “She’s quite good at what she does. Better talk fast.”

“Not much to say, Mr. Studly.” The wet sucking noises created a strange ambience for their conversation. Michael seemed oblivious to the fellatio, and Jane was mildly amused by the effort he was putting into looking disengaged. “Basically, I heard that there is a shipment coming tonight. Something from Mother Russia, for your competitors, that you might want to intercept and acquire.” Jane paused, enjoying the tension she saw in the man’s eyes as he struggled to concentrate on business despite pleasure. “I also heard that my –inadvertent– interaction with your boys deprived you of your usual translator.” She shrugged. “I feel kind of bad about that, and thought I’d offer you my services.”

Michael listened, his mouth open slightly, but his eyes were alert. “You seem remarkably well informed, Ms. Jane – ” he paused to let her fill in the gap, and she sat with cool silence. “Yes. Whatever.” He cleared his throat and shifted suddenly.

Michael pulled a remote out of his desk and pointed it at a television screen mounted in an ornate wooden frame. Nothing happened, and Jane looked at him with a sarcastic smile. “Need help?” Michael gave an annoyed grunt, looked at the remote a little more closely, and pressed a button again. An image of Jane’s ass filled the screen, moving sinuously and suddenly stopping as Tony’s hand came down. There was no sound to the video and the picture was slightly canted to the left, giving it an abstract feel.

Jane studied the image with interest. “Mmmm. Good, so at least somebody remembered to hit record for that scene. You know, though, that’s a really lousy angle- my ass looks much better from above. The POV shots, you know?” She turned to look at Michael, who seemed disappointed at her reaction. “What?” she laughed. “You think I’m going to be upset about a little video of my naked tushie having fun? Oh, come on, Michael, what are you, five?” She tapped her finger on the desk. “Anyway, yeah, so now you have even more reason to hire me. I don’t work cheap, but I always deliver more than expected. As you know if you watched the whole video.”

Michael suddenly hissed through his teeth, baring them in a feral grimace, eyes bright and unfocused on Jane’s face, and she sighed, waiting as his shoulders slumped just a little. After a few more wet sounds, the slurping stopped. Jane looked at him expectantly as his eyes became more aware. “Hmmph. You think you’re quite the smart little slut, don’t you? If you’d heard their conversation afterwards, you might not be so cocky. Pun intended.” He looked at her, challenging. Jane just stared back, waiting.

Finally he slapped the table and laughed again. “By god, Ms. Jane, I think I might like you. Yeah, my boys can be assholes. I’d appreciate it if you’d try not to put any more into the clinic in the near future – they always get a little extra rowdy when Theo’s gone, but he should get back later today. He’ll take you along to catch that delivery. Do what he says, we’ll have no problems.” His grin grew a little wider. “And when you get back, we’ll talk about some of those other skills of yours. I think you’ll find we can be very generous to people with the right attitude and the right talent.”

“Sounds like a great plan, Mike m’boy.” She held out her hand, the tiny silver strip unwinding again in her palm. “I work on retainer, of course, so I’ll need $1500 deposited in this account before we begin.”

“$1500?” he laughed at her. “How do I even know that you even speak the language?”

“Guess that’ll do, davalka,” and he finally got to see her eyes widen in surprise. He took the strip from her, peering at the web address there, then up at her, enjoying the shocked expression he’d finally been able to elicit. “Yeah, I’m fluent. I just don’t like getting my hands dirty. Don’t worry, though, it’s not the first thing you’ve been wrong about.” Standing, he took his time adjusting himself, zipping up with a slow satisfaction as Jane stared at his flaccid cock. It was enormous.

“Mr. Doukas,” she said, swallowing and licking her lips before she continued. “I will not make the mistake of underestimating you again.”

“I hope not, Ms. Jane,” he replied. “The ones who do don’t tend to be around long.” He pushed his chair in roughly, and tossed the ring to his guard. “See that the bitch gets her money. Fit her out with whatever kit she wants. She rides bitch for Theo.” Seeing Jane’s mouth open in protest, he held up a hand. “Meaning no disrespect to that – ” his lip curled “-fine piece of Japanese engineering you ride, we need to have a bit of a presence with these deliveries. This is not negotiable.” Without waiting for a response, he walked out the door.

Jane watched him go, mouth pursed and thoughtful. She looked down at the chair, pushed in to the desk, then up at the guard. “Damn. Think I could get a moment in that chair too? He is…impressive.” She waited to see if the girl would respond, and gave a disappointed frown as nothing happened. “She stay down there all the time?”

The guard gave a rough smile at her that was not at all friendly. “Heidi? She’s been there a week, ever since she messed up his coffee.” His eyes widened with menace. “ That shit you pulled on my brothers? You’re lucky he didn’t jump all in your shit, too. ”

Jane looked at the door which Michael had left open. “Oh, make no mistake about it, bucko. He did.” She fingered her leather rucksack thoughtfully. “Oh, yes. He did.”